This week, I'm changing hats from picture book writer to reading specialist because I wanted to share some really great resources I've found online.

With the Common Core's push to have students interacting with more nonfiction than before, teachers find themselves in a predicament.

Where do we get all this great nonfiction? Specifically short engaging texts? The reality is, that just because the standards have changed and we are expected to be engaged in nonfiction texts, doesn't mean all the resources magically appear. And even if some were funded, we always find ourselves scrambling to match texts to readers. Are they engaging enough? Complex enough? Have a wide range of levels?

Luckily, there actually are some great FREE resources out there!

Tweentribunehttp://tweentribune.com/juniorhttp://tweentribune.com/This site looks awesome and is through Smithsonian. Each article offers a critical thinking question at the end. Each article has a lexile where you can change the level. Students and teachers can create accounts. Students choose articles they want to read. They can answer three well-written comprehension questions at the end and create a comment about the article as well. Teachers can assign articles and view quizzes. You can view quizzes by students or print them all. And it’s all free!Dogo Newshttp://www.dogonews.com/This is a very kid and teacher friendly site. It has tons of articles and you can create your own class page. You can add your students and they can log on and read articles and answer questions. It’s a social network as well and they can interact with other readers. You can download the articles and use them for your classroom. And it’s all free!Think Cercahttp://www.thinkcerca.com/Another great site where teachers can assign articles with follow up questions. Good for test prep. Although there aren't many articles on this site.Nesleahttps://newsela.com/This site offers the lexile of the article. And you can change the lexile to make it lower or higher. Highlights http://www.highlightskids.com/articles/archivesCollection of nonfiction articles you can read online. National Geographic for Kidshttp://kids.nationalgeographic.com/This website has articles online you can read for free.

Lastly, I used easel.ly to create the infographic above. It was really easy. Teachers could easily create infographics or even students could create them too. It's a free subscription for the basic version and then you can upgrade for $2 a month to have more options. You basically just choose a preloaded template and alter whatever you want.

Mandy Yates is currently an elementary reading specialist and children's book writer. She has an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and has been published multiple times in Highlights Magazine.

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Plagiarism is theft of another person's writings or ideas. Placing one's own name on someone else's work is the simplest and yet the most extreme form of Plagiarism. Imitation, adaptation, or pastiche is not always easily separable from Plagiarism. However, it is usually distinguished by its dishonest intention.